Pop Shots - Passing Fancy

Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week Pop Shots is hitting you with thoughts on everything from one half of Kriss Kross passing away, to Britney Spears being told to pass on the dance songs for the time being, to almost everyone passing on the idea of wearing clothes in Polish pop singer Margaret’s new video, and since it’s Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.

* Chris “Mac Daddy” Kelly, one half of 90s rap duo Kriss Kross, died last week of what is being reported as a likely drug overdose. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say it wasn’t heroin, because it’s gotta be hell to try to roll up your sleeves with your clothes on backwards.

* Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj are going at each other again. On Wednesday, when Nicki was arguing with Mariah about a contestant, Carey reminded everyone that the fluorescent haired Young Money rapper has never had a single go to number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Nicki later replied with a tweet, saying, “All dem #1s but JLo phone ringin? Lol. I guess having a personality, being a secure woman, and giving genuine critique still trumps that.” Meanwhile, Keith Urban was somewhere hiding in a corner, praying to God everyone forgets he was ever a part of this.

* In more Mariah Carey news, the singer and her husband, Nick Cannon, renewed their weddings vows at Disneyland, and simultaneously celebrated the second birthday of their twins. The full grown adults wore matching Cinderella and Prince Charming-style costumes, and rode in a horse-drawn crystal carriage. The couple have renewed their vows every year, and personally, I’m hoping they have a very long marriage just because it’s going to be really fun to see where they renew their vows when they start running out of nice locations. Their 20th anniversary vows might be in a third rate haunted house, and if they get to 35, I’m predicting corn maze.


* It turns out the Spice Girls musical, Viva Forever, was really poorly titled, as the production, which was panned by local critics in London, is coming to an end after only six months. There’s a bit of poetry in the musical only lasting half a year, as the Spice Girls’ hit “Wannabe” was on the Billboard Hot 100 for 23 weeks, which is almost the exact same amount of time.

* Beyonce, J.Lo, and Florence & The Machine will be headlining a four hour charity concert in London to benefit women’s health and education projects around the world. The Sound of Change Live concert, which is being put on by Chime for Change, will happen on June 1st in London's Twickenham sports stadium. Sadly, it isn’t being put on soon enough to save Viva Forever.

* With “Scream & Shout” will.i.am and Britney Spears gave us one of the biggest dance hits of the past year, but now that will.i.am is executive producing Britney’s next album, he wants to slow things down a bit. He told Rolling Stone, “We can't do another song about going on the dance floor. Really? Didn't we see a bunch of Britney doing that already? Don't we want to see something that comes from her heart?” His way of getting that kind of music out of her has involved food, lots and lots of food, as will.i.am insisted the two meet for lunch four times a month, for three months, before even thinking about getting into the studio. Honestly, I’m not sure if those lunches are being done in an effort to draw something heartfelt out of Britney, or if they’re to weigh her down so much she’ll be completely incapable of dancing. You remember what Weird Al said about girls...


* Canadian crooner Michael Bublé notched his fourth number one album this past week as his latest effort, To Be Loved, debuted in the top spot on the Billboard 200 with 195,000 copies sold. With this Canadian background, and four number one albums, I think he’s officially become Justin Bieber for moms.

* In really cool news, Brooklyn’s Palmetto Playground will be having its name changed to Adam Yauch Playground in honor of the Beastie Boys emcee who lost his battle with cancer last year. Councilman Steve Levin felt Palmetto Playground was the right one to rename, as Yauch, aka MCA, used to spend time there as a child and teenager. I don’t think I’m going out on too much of a limb here when I say with a name like Adam Yauch Playground there’s no way it doesn’t turn into a hot cypher spot.

* Finally, the video for Polish singer Margaret’s single “Thank You Very Much” is going to be the best thing you see all week. Despite looking like a teenager, Margaret is actually 23, and a heck of a singer. The latter needs to be noted because the first time you play the video you’re probably going to end up focusing on all the naked people. There are A LOT of them.


And with that, my time is up for the week, but I'll be back next week with more shots on all things pop.